Online - May 04, 2005

Herbal Communication

Prairieland Herbs

Someday, you’ll ditch the rat race and leave it all behind for a little patch of paradise, where you’ll grow organic herbs and flowers and make all your own beauty products from homegrown ingredients.

Pardon us if we don’t hold our breath.

Besides, the ladies of Prairieland Herbs have beat you to it. Mother-daughter team Donna Julseth and Maggie Julseth Howe live and work on two acres of Iowa prairie, where they grow their own herbs and flowers. From those and other all-natural ingredients, they make a line of face and body products, shampoos, and bath scrubs.

Order some body or linen mists in scents like lavender and vanilla. Or try one of the herbal facial steams, available in versions for normal, dry, or oily skin. There are even recipes — both edible and beauty-oriented — using the ladies’ many ingredients, so you can get in on the action yourself.

Which, frankly, is about as close to that little patch of paradise as you’re ever going to get.

Available online at prairielandherbs.com.